Tuesday, 11 December 2007

It might not come as a great surprise when I say that I haven't been posting much lately - or cooking for that matter (the "quick, I'm hungry" kind of cooking doesn't count here). However, I didn't want to miss out on this month'sSugar High Friday hosted by Zorra of 1x umruehren. Alas, due to work commitments, there was no way I could possibly make the sticky date pudding that I had already started dreaming of... It's one of the real Aussie desserts and to be found on many a restaurant menu in Sydney. I've had it only once so far and since then, always wanted to recreate it myself. This is what it would look like but it will have to wait until next year.

However, what does one do when coming home from a long day at work and craving for some comfort and food or comfort food so to speak? You skip dinner, of course, it's past 11pm after all, and rather go straight for dessert instead. In my opinion, there's not much a warm, smooth pudding couldn't fix - even if it actually is a custard, technically speaking.This really fool-proof recipe fits perfectly into Zorra's theme "The proof is in the pudding" or "The proof of the pudding is in the eating", as the original version of the saying goes.

As I've mentioned before, I quite like the ready-to-use custard mixes you can get in Germany and always make sure to take some with me when visiting my family. However, in order to qualify for SHF#38, this one would have to be made from scratch. It's not quite as fast as opening a sachet but it's dead easy nonetheless. And in case I haven't said it yet, it's truly delicious!

3Once the milk has reached boiling point, take it off the heat and pour in the cocoa mixture. Keep stirring while doing this.

4Let the pudding come to a boil once more and let it cook for a minute, stirring all the time. The pudding will thicken quickly.

5While still hot, whisk in add egg yolk and rum. You need to keep whisking until you are ready to pour the pudding into serving dishes or a skin will form on top.

The sourceAdapted from Hedwig Maria Stuber: Ich helf Dir kochen

The hintThis recipe states a lot of cocoa. Unless you're fond of a bittersweet, dark chocolate taste, either decrease the amount of cocoa to 20-30g or add more sugar (can be done at the last step). I've added more sugar but afterwards thought that the original amount is enough.

Darlene - You could use anything from vanilla extract to vanilla sugar or even a real vanilla bean (however, I'm not sure if it's worth it as you can't taste the vanilla. It's only rounding out the chocolate taste).

Nora - Sometimes, savoury food just doesn't do it for me...;-) I feel like I need some more of that stuff right now...

Eva, that is very nice recipe for chocolate pudding. I tried the other day to make it the way my mom was preparing it when we were children, but it did not taste as good as in my memories... I must try your recipe.